ACROSS THE NATION

State, Vermont join widening probe of drug's marketing

January 21, 2007|By Items compiled from Tribune news services.

ILLINOIS — Stepping up government investigations into Eli Lilly's marketing of its best-selling drug Zyprexa, state prosecutors in Illinois and Vermont have demanded that the company turn over information about the way it promoted the medication.

On Thursday, attorneys from the consumer protection division of the Illinois attorney general's office demanded that Lilly hand over marketing materials, e-mail messages and other documents with information about promotion of Zyprexa. Vermont investigators issued a similar order Friday morning.

The orders are the civil equivalents of criminal subpoenas, according to Deborah Hagan, the chief of the Illinois consumer protection division.

Illinois and Vermont are part of a five-state civil investigation into the way Lilly promoted Zyprexa, a treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.